Warper

ABSTRACT

A WARPER FOR WINDING A PLURALITY OF PARALLEL YARN ENDS ONTO A BEAM HAVING PROVISION FOR LOADING AND UNLOADING THE BEAM, AND FOR SUPPORTING THE BEAM DURING THE WARPING OPERATION. THE WARPER INCLUDES A BEAM ROTATING DRUM AND A PAIR OF LIFT ARMS WHICH ARE PIVOTABLE ABOUT AN AXIS CORRESPONDING TO THE AXIS OF THE BEAM ROTATING DRUM BETWEEN A LOWER HORIZONTAL POSITION AND AN UPPER INCLINED POSITION. EACH LIFT ARM SLIDABLY CARRIES A BEAM SUPPORTING CHUCK WHICH IS ADAPTED TO BE AUTOMATICALLY OPENED TO ADMIT THE HUB OF THE BEAM WHEN THE LIFT ARM IS IN ITS LOWER POSITION, AND AUTOMATICALLY CLOSED TO ROTATABLY GRIP THE HUB WHEN THE LIFT ARMS ARE PIVOTED UPWARDLY. THE CHUCKS ARE BIASED TOWARD THE PIVOTAL AXIS AND THE SUPPORTED BEAM IS THEREBY NORMALLY BIASED INTO CONTACT WITH THE BEAM ROTATING DRUM WHEN THE LIFT ARMS ARE PIVOTED UPWARDLY AND THE BEAM WILL BE FREE TO SLIDE BACK AND AWAY FROM THE BEAM ROTATING DRUM AS THE YARNS ARE WOUND ONTO THE BEAM. BRAKE MEANS ARE PROVIDED FOR RESTAINING MOVEMENT OF THE CHUCKS RELATIVE TO THE LIFT ARMS TO MAINTAIN AN EMPTY BEAM OUT OF CONTACT WITH THE BEAM ROTATING DRUM UNTIL THE LIFT ARMS REACH THE INCLINED POSITION.

E L B B O c t June 8, 1971 R E P m w 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 7, 1969 INVENTOR JAMES T. COBBLE ATTORNEYS E L B B O c 1 .i

June 8, 1971 R E P R A W 4 Sheets-Sheet Filed Nov. 7 1969 COBBL-E ATTORNEYS JAMES v VEA/ 70E W66 i.

III I! III IIII I! (III I I I I I I United States Patent 3,583,049 WARPER James T. Cobble, Dalton, Ga., assignor to B & J Machinery Co., Inc., Dalton, Ga. Filed Nov. 7, 1969, Ser. No. 874,903 Int. Cl. D02h /00 U.S. CI. 28-32 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A warper for winding a plurality of parallel yarn ends onto a beam having provision for loading and unloading the beam, and for supporting the beam during the warping operation. The warper includes a beam rotating drum and a pair of lift arms which are pivotable about an axis corresponding to the axis of the beam rotating drum between a lower horizontal position and an upper inclined position. Each lift arm slidably carries a beam supporting chuck which is adapted to be automatically opened to admit the hub of the beam when the lift arm is in its lower position, and automatically closed to rotatably grip the hub when the lift arms are pivoted upwardly. The chucks are biased toward the pivotal axis and the supported beam is thereby normally biased into contact with the beam rotating drum when the lift arms are pivoted upwardly and the beam will be free to slide back and away from the beam rotating drum as the yarns are wound onto the beam. Brake means are provided for restraining movement of the chucks relative to the lift arms to maintain an empty beam out of contact with the beam rotating drum until the lift arms reach the inclined position.

The present invention relates to a warper of the type extensively employed in the weaving, knitting and tufting industries to wind a large number of parallel yarn ends onto a beam under controlled condition of speed, tension, and density. The resulting warp beam is capable of delivering the yarn sheet to the weaving, knitting or tufting machine at a uniform tension without trapping or dragging any of its ends. The invention is particularly directed to a warper having provision for loading and unloading the beam into position on the warper, and for supporting the beam during the warping operation.

Warpers of one form of conventional design generally include a beam rotating roller which is pressed into engagement with the yarn on the beam by means of springs or hydraulic or pneumatic cylinders. The beam rotating roller serves to compress the yarn to the desired density and also is rotatably driven by a suitable electric motor to thereby rotate the beam.

In such Warpers, a pneumatically or hydraulically operated dotting tackle is required to lift the beam into position on the apparatus. Also, such Warpers employ a rather complex structure for supporting the beam in frictional engagement with the beam rotating roller and for swinging the beam away from the beam rotating as the yarn mass builds up on the beam. This complex equipment and structure is not only expensive, but it is prone to malfunction.

Warpers of another form of conventional design are also available and include a beam rotating drum or roller rotatable about a stationary axis and a beam carrier pivoted about an axis spaced a substantial distance from the axis of the beam rotating roller. This beam carrier loads an empty beam and moves it into contact with the beam rotating roller for winding of the yarns thereon and then unloads the full beam. Due to this type of pivotal movement, the attitude of the beam relative to the beam rotating roller constantly changes during the winding operation. Also, considerable floor space and relative complex linkages are required for this pivotal structure.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a warper wherein the beam may be easily loaded and unloaded onto a relatively simple supporting structure. Also, it is an object to provide a supporting structure which maintains substantially the same attitude between the beam rotating drum and beam during the warping operation.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention are achieved in the embodiment illustrated herein by the provision of a warper which comprises a beam rotating drum rotatably mounted on a supporting frame for rotation about a substantially horizontal axis, an electric motor for rotating the feed drum, and a beam carrier pivotally mounted on the supporting frame for rotation about a horizontal axis corresponding to the axis of the drum. The beam carrier comprises a lift arm at each end of the feed drum, the two lift arms being connected for coordinated pivotal movement and being spaced apart a distance suflicient to accommodate the beam therebetween. A releasable chuck is carried by each lift arm for supporting the hubs of the beam, the two chucks being slidably connected to its associated lift arm such that a supported beam may be advanced toward and away from the feed drum by sliding the chucks along the lift arms. An electric motor is provided to pivot the lift arms upwardly such that a supported beam may be lifted and disposed in frictional engagement with the beam rotating drum whereby rotation of the beam rotating drum will rotate the beam. More particularly, the chucks are normally biased toward the axis, but brake means is provided for restraining movement of the chuck means until the lift arms are in their inclined position. Therefore, the beam, when lifted, will slide with the two chucks down the lift arms and into frictional engagement with the feed drum. As the yarn mass builds on the drum during the warping operation, the beam will slowly slide back up the arms without disturbing the frictional engagement.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objects will appear as the description proceeds, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. 1 is a perspective view of warper embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged side elevational view, partly broken away, of the warper shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged front elevational view, partly broken away, of the warper;

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view, partly broken away, of the side of the warper opposite that shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevational view of the supporting chuck of the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken substantially along line 6-6 in FIG. 3 and illustrating the various positions of the beam carrier and supported beam.

Referring to the drawings, a warper embodying the present invention is illustrated generally at 10 (FIG. 1). The warper includes a supporting frame 12 (FIG. 2), a beam rotating drum 14 (FIG. 3) :rotatably mounted on the supporting frame for rotation about a drum shaft '15, a beam carrier assembly 16 (FIG. 6), and an eyeboard assembly 17 for collecting the yarn ends and guiding the same to a beam supported by the beam carrier assembly 16. The beam rotating drum 14 is rotatably driven by an electric motor 18 which is operatively connected by a belt 19 to a drive wheel 20 which in turn is coaxially mounted about and keyed to one end of the drum shaft 15. The opposite end of the drum shaft is connected to a conventional electric brake 22 and to a yardage counter 24 via a gear belt 26 and gears 27. By design, the yardage counter records the number of yards of yarn wound onto the beam, and it may include a mechanism for automatically terminating operation of the warper when a predetermined yardage is reached.

As illustrated, a beam 30, of conventional design, includes a cylindrical barrel 32, end flanges 34, and hubs 36 coaxially aligned with the axis of the barrel.

The beam carrier assembly 16 includes a pair of lift arms 38 which are spaced a distance apart sufficient to accommodate the beam 30 therebetween when the beam is positioned immediately adjacent and parallel to the drum 14. Each lift arm 38 is pivotally mounted by a bearing 39 on the drum shaft for pivotal movement about an axis corresponding to the axis of drum 14 and is operatively connected to a lift shaft 40 by a rocker 42 and connecting link 44. Thus as seen in FIG. 6, rotation of the shaft 40 in a counterclockwise direction serves to pivot each arm 38 from a generally horizontal loading position to an inclined operating position.

A reversible electric motor 46 is provided which acts through a gear reducer 48 to slowly rotate the shaft 40 and thereby pivot the lift arms 38. To control the limits of such pivotal movement, a rocker arm 50 is secured to the shaft 40 and acts in conjunction with limit switches 51, 52 to deactivate the motor 46. Thus when the shaft 40 is rotated counterclockwise, the arms 38 will be lifted or inclined until the limit switch 51 is actuated by the rocker arm 50. When the shaft is rotated in the opposite direction, the arms 38 will be lowered until the limit switch 52 is actuated.

Each lift arm 38 includes two spaced bearing blocks 54, 55 which slidably carry a rod 56. The rear end of the rod 56 mounts a guide block 58 which acts in conjunction with an abutment 60 and with bearing block 54 to limit the relative translation of the rod 56. The guide block 58 also includes a pair of spaced upwardly extending tabs 62 which engage the side edge of the arm 38 to guide the rod during its sliding movement therealong.

To preclude free translation of the rod 56, a releasable braking device is provided for each rod 56 which includes an air cylinder 64 which is designed to drive a piston rod 65 and friction pad 66 downwardly into firm frictional engagement with the rod 56. Actuation of the air cylinder is controlled by a solenoid valve 68 (FIG. 2) which selectively permits passage of air from a suitable air source (not shown) through a pipe 7 0 and flexible hose 71 to the air cylinder 64.

The forward end of each rod 56 mounts a releasable chuck 72 which is adapted to engage and support one of the beam hubs 36. The chucks are fixedly mounted to the rods 56 and thus are not translatable therealong. However, since the rods 56 are translatable in relation to the lift arms, the chucks (and thus the supported beam) may be advanced toward and away from the beam rotating drum 14.

Each chuck 72 (FIG. '5) includes a pair of spaced anchor blocks 73 which are fixed to the rod 56. The blocks 73 include aligned horizontal channels 74 which slidably mount a correspondingly shaped adjustment block 75. An end plate 76 (FIG. 3) overlies and is secured to the outer end of the two anchor blocks 73 and includes a threaded aperture which threadedly receives an adjustment screw 77. The screw 78 is secured to the adjustable bracket 75 and thus rotation of the adjustment screw translates the adjustment block 75 along the channels 74.

The adjustment block 75 further includes a pair of spaced vertically directed apertures 80, 81 which freely receive spaced vertical shafts 82, 83 respectively. Also, an upwardly extending wheel bracket 84 is secured to the upper surface of the adjustment block 75, the wheel bracket 84 mounts a pair of horizontally spaced rotatable wheels 86, 87.

A third upper wheel 88 is rotatably mounted at the upper end of the shafts 82, 83 such as to be laterally aligned with the two lower wheels and positioned horizontally therebetween. A beam release bracket 90 is secured to the lower end of the shafts 82, 83 and a pair of helical springs 91, 92 are positioned on the shafts to extend between the beam release bracket 90 and the two anchor blocks 73 to resiliently urge the two shafts in a downward direction. The beam release bracket 90 also mounts a caster shaft 94 which in turn carries a caster 95 at the lower end thereof.

Means 96 is provided for normally biasing the chucks 72 and rods 56 toward the pivotal axis of the lift arms for normally urging the beam into contact with the beam rotating drum 14. As illustrated, biasing means 96 comprises tension springs secured to chucks 72 at one end and to lift arms 38 at their other ends.

The electrical control system for the illustrated apparatus may be of any suitable form and thus has not been described in detail herein. Suflice it to say that the design of a suitable system will be well within the skill of an ordinary person skilled in that art.

To load a beam into operating position on the warper, the lift arms 38 are lowered to the horizontal-position, illustrated in solid lines in FIG. 6. During such movement to this position, the casters 95 will engage the floor and lift the upper wheels 88 a distance sufiicient to permit the hubs 36 of the beam to be positioned intermediate the three wheels of the chucks 72. A beam 30 may then be rolled into position and the operating means for the lift arms 38 actuated to upwardly pivot the lift arms. Upon upward pivoting of the lift arms 38, the hubs will be engaged by the two lower fixed wheels 86, 87 and the beam lifted. The upper wheel 88 will then translate downwardly in relation to the fixed wheels by reason of the compression springs 91, 92 to resiliently and firmly grip the hubs 36 between the three wheels.

When the lift arms 38 reach their inclined position, the limit switch 51 will be actuated to terminate operation of the motor. Upon release of the brake means, the weight of the beam, together with the force exerted by the springs 96 will cause the chucks 72 and beam to be translated toward the beam rotating drum 14 until the drum engages the barrel of the beam. By design, the abutting force between the beam rotating drum and beam will be sufficient to permit the drum 14 to frictionally rotate the beam.

As the yarn mass builds upon the barrel of the beam, the beam will be pushed upwardly away from the beam rotating drum 14 to the upper position shown in dashed lines in FIG. 6. Upon completion of the warping operation, the lift shaft motor is operated in the reverse direc tion to rotate the shaft 40 in the clockwise direction and thereby pivot the lift arms 38 back to their original horizontal position. During this operation, the air cylinders 64 will be actuated to engage the brake pads '66 with the rods 56 and thereby preclude translation of the chucks 72 toward the beam rotating drum by the springs 96 when the chucks are released from the beam. During movement of the lift arms to their horizontal position, it will be apparent that the beam 30 is automatically disengaged from the chucks since the upper wheel 88 will have been lifted by the engagement of the caster 95 with the floor. Thus the beam 30 may be removed simply by rolling it away, and an empty beam positioned to replace it simply by rolling the empty beam forward.

In the drawings and specification there has been set forth a preferred embodiment of the invention, and although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.

What is claimed is:

1. In a warper for winding a plurality of parallel yarn ends onto a beam having a cylindrical barrel, end flanges, and external hubs and including a beam rotating drum adapted to engage the barrel of the beam or yarns wound thereon for driving the beam in rotation and drive means for driving said drum at a controlled speed, the improvement which comprises beam carrier means for lifting an empty beam from a supporting surface adjacent the warper into position in engagement with said beam rotating drum, for supporting the beam adjacent said drum during winding of the yarns thereon, and for returning the full beam to the supporting surface, said carrier means comprising:

chuck means adapted to receive the hubs of a beam therein for locking the beam to said beam carrier means,

lift arm means mounted for pivotal movement about a pivotal axis, means mounting said chuck means on said lift arm means for a translatable movement of the beam generally radially of said beam rotating drum, and means for pivoting said lift arm means about its pivotal axis to lift the empty beam from the supporting surface and to return the full beam thereto.

2. The warper as defined in claim 1 wherein said carrier means further comprises means for resiliently biasing said chuck means radially toward said beam rotating drum to insure frictional engagement between the beam and beam rotating drum.

3. The warper as defined in claim 2 wherein said carrier means further comprises releasable brake means for precluding movement of said chuck means toward said beam rotating drum to prevent movement of the chuck means upon release of the beam hubs.

4. The warper as defined in claim 1 wherein said lift arm means comprises a lift arm radially disposed at each end of said beam rotating drum, said lift arms being disposed in generally parallel relation and being pivotable in unison about the axis of rotation of the beam rotating drum.

5. The warper as defined in claim 4 wherein said chuck means comprises a chuck mounted on each lift arm and each chuck comprises a pair of lower horizontally spaced wheels and an upper vertically translatable wheel positioned horizontally intermediate the two lower wheels, whereby the upper wheel may be translated upwardly to admit the beam hub and then translated downwardly such that the hub is retained between the three wheels.

6. The warper as defined in claim 5 wherein each chuck further comprises means for biasing said upper wheel downwardly into firm engagement with the beam hub, and means for selectively translating said upper wheel upwardly against the action of said downwardly biasing means to release the beam hub.

7. In a warper for winding a plurality of parallel yarn ends onto a beam having a cylindrical barrel, end flanges, and an external hub extending from each end flange and including a beam rotating drum adapted to engage the barrel of the beam or yarns wound thereon for driving the beam in rotation and drive means for driving said drum at a controlled speed; the improvement which comprises beam carrier means for lifting the beam by its external hubs from a supporting surface adjacent the warper into position in engagement with said beam rotating drum, for supporting the beam adjacent said drum during winding of the yarns thereon, and for returning the full beam to the supporting surface, said carrier means comprising:

a pair of parallel lift arms pivotable about an axis corresponding to the axis of rotation of said beam drum and between a first horizontal position and a second upwardly inclined position,

a chuck slidably connected to each lift arm for rotatably engaging the external hubs of the beam, each chuck comprising a pair of lower wheels horizontally spaced at a fixed distance from each other and an upper vertically translatable wheel positioned horizontally intermediate the two lower fixed wheels, whereby the upper wheel may be translated upwardly to admit the beam hub and then translated downwardly such that the hub is retained between the three wheels,

means for pivoting said lift arms in unison to said second upwardly inclined position such that a supported beam may be lifted upwardly, whereby the beam is free to slide along the lift arms until the cylindrical barrel of the beam engages the beam rotating drum to provide a frictional engagement therebetween, and

means for pivoting said lift arms in unison from said second upwardly inclined position back to said horizontal position.

8. The warper as defined in claim 7 wherein said chuck further comprises means for automatically translating said upper wheel of each chuck upwardly when the lift arm is in said horizontal position and for automatically translating said upper wheel downwardly when the lift arm is in said inclined position.

9. The warper as defined in claim 8 wherein said upper wheel of each chuck is mounted at the upper end of a translatable vertically extending shaft, and the means for automatically translating said upper wheel upwardly includes means at the lower end of said shaft for engaging the supporting surface and lifting said shaft when the lift arm in said horizontal position, and the means for automatically translating said upper wheel downwardly includes means positioned about said shaft for resiliently biasing said shaft downwardly.

10. The warper as defined in claim 8 wherein said beam carrier further comprises spring means for resiliently biasing each chuck along its associated lift arm in a direction toward said beam rotating drum to insure frictional engagement between the beam and beam rotating drum, and releasable brake means for precluding movement of said chuck along its associated lift arm when the lift arms are in the first horizontal position to prevent movement of the chuck upon release of the beam hubs.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,450,431 10/1948 Lambach 28-32 2,487,492 11/1949 Suggs 2832 3,165,808 1/1965 Browne et a1. 2832 LOUIS K. RIMRODT, Primary Examiner 

